36
I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.
Chapter 36
The hero's cemetery was swarming with knight apprentices.
Upon hearing the news that Caesar had gained enlightenment at the hero's cemetery, knight apprentices who hadn't yet awakened their aura all gathered in one place, sitting at the graves of the knights they respected and began to pray.
"What kind of enlightenment did he gain that he's training from morning to night every day?"
"Look at how the wind moves. Doesn't it look like it's dancing?"
"There's a story that those aren't winds, but the souls of the heroes. They say they're bestowing blessings upon Sir Caesar."
When Caesar closed his eyes and began to meditate, rumors spread instantly that the heroes' souls were all around him, as the surrounding wind began to move in less than a minute.
Of course, this was nothing more than superstition, but hoping it might be true, the aspiring knights took their places around Caesar and began to meditate without making a sound.
The problem was that some aspiring knights actually started to feel their aura.
"Oh, my... Is this aura?"
"This feeling... it's strange. It feels like I'm holding something."
"Thank you, Goddess! Thank you!"
Despite having over 100 people gathered, the hero's cemetery became a quiet training ground without a single sound of breathing.
In turn, Pesson's blacksmith became chaotic.
"I didn't know there was a blacksmith in a place like this. Do you happen to sell any decent weapons?"
Pesson had the opportunity to make a fortune, but the problem was Pesson's stubbornness.
Pesson looked the customer up and down before speaking.
"Show me the sword you've been using."
Pesson looked at the sword once and then spoke.
"A greatsword would suit you better than a longsword. I'll make you a greatsword."
"A greatsword is too big! Make me a longsword!"
"No! You absolutely need a greatsword!"
"I'm telling you to make a longsword!"
"No, you absolutely need a greatsword, I say!"
"What a strange blacksmith! I'll go somewhere else!"
In the end, Pesson ended up just sharpening or repairing the knights' sword blades, and didn't receive a single order for crafting.
"Damn it! These knights are just unnecessarily stubborn!"
At that moment, a blacksmith entered Pesson's blacksmith.
"Your stubbornness is more of a problem, my friend."
Pesson became upset as soon as he saw the blacksmith's face.
"What! How dare you come here!"
The person who came to Pesson's smithy was Master Gix.
Gix sat down with a thud in an empty seat and said,
"I came to see how my friend was doing. Seeing that you're still as pigheaded as ever, it seems you're doing well."
"Get out right now! It's because of that damn barbarian you introduced that I'm living like this!"
Gix stroked his beard as if dumbfounded.
"The barbarian went to the demon realm without paying, what do you want me to do about it? Is that my fault?"
"Didn't you pass him off to me knowing he had no money?!"
"So why did you make him something so expensive, trusting that guy? You should have made something more reasonable. Giant wood, magic gold, and even cold iron and giant stone. You used all the expensive materials, and now you're asking me what to do?"
"How can I make a weapon carelessly! And you call yourself the blacksmith of Shalibi?"
"Alright, if we start that conversation again, it won't end even if we talk all night."
Gix handed Pesson a check.
"Actually, I came because of that issue. The Gale Magic Tower contacted me saying they would pay for Barre's axe instead. This is the check."
Pesson snatched the check.
But nowhere on the check was an amount written.
"What's this, why isn't there a number written?"
"You have to write that. Write down all the costs for your labor and materials. The Gale Magic Tower said they would calculate it."
"Hmm......"
Pesson furrowed his brow and then spoke.
"Why is the Gale Magic Tower paying for Barre's axe?"
"How would I know what's in the minds of magicians?"
"I suppose."
"Well then, I'll be on my way. Ah, right."
Gix stroked his chin and then spoke.
"By any chance, did Barre not stop by here?"
"...Why are you asking that?"
"I don't know why, but it seems several places are urgently looking for Barre. Even His Majesty the Emperor."
"Well, aren't you well-connected. Even hearing news from His Majesty the Emperor."
Gix tapped the golden shield badge on his chest as he spoke.
"Well, I'm a Master recognized by His Majesty the Emperor. I have some ears in certain places."
"These days it seems they give out Master titles to just about anyone."
"Being able to meet the needs of customers well is also a quality of a good blacksmith. You are lacking in that area."
"Is that why you gave that blood-drinking sword to that bastard Yan? That sword will ruin him."
Gix was at a loss for words for a moment.
"...If he asks for it to be made, I have to make it. What can I do?"
Gix waved his hand as he spoke.
"So you should also be less stubborn and accommodate what the customers want. I acknowledge your skills, but your stubbornness is the problem."
Gix closed the door and left.
Pesson sighed and fiddled with the check.
"Damn bastard......"
Pesson turned over the check to confirm the name written in the customer field.
Pesson tilted his head slightly as if slightly puzzled.
"Raven Gale...?"
Wasn't the Gale Magic Tower supposed to pay for it?
Why is the name of the green-eyed magician written here?
Pesson pondered for a moment and then tossed the check onto the drawer.
"I can't take money from someone else. I'll definitely get it from that bastard. For sure!"
***
Bradley tore up the newspaper.
[Knight Caesar, blessed by the heroes, becomes a role model for aspiring knights.]
[Currently the hottest knight in Shalibi, Caesar, will he become a holy knight?!]
Everywhere he went, he saw Caesar, and everywhere he went, he heard about Caesar.
'Damn it! Damn it!'
It was maddening to hear rumors about the success of the very person who had shattered his jaw, even when he didn't want to hear it.
What was even more miserable was that there was nothing he could do about it himself.
He came out with a look in his eyes as if he had made some kind of decision.
The place Bradley headed to was a bar located in a corner of Sanctus Lumen.
He opened the door of the bar and looked around every corner.
At this hour, his friends would be drinking heavily.
Sure enough, in a corner where even the light barely reached, his friends were drinking.
"B-Bradley!"
"...Has your body recovered?"
Bradley's friends looked at him, seemingly flustered by his sudden appearance.
Bradley took out a small notebook and pen from his pocket and wrote.
[How did you guys awaken your aura?]
Bradley's friends hesitated after reading the note.
"...Why do you ask?"
[It's Night Maker, right? There's no way you guys, who are always busy drinking, could have awakened your aura overnight otherwise.]
At that, his friends' expressions hardened.
One of them fiddled with his sword handle.
"...What do you want?"
[Introduce me to the medicine seller who sells that.]
"What for?"
[I need to ask for a potion that can heal my jaw in one go.]
At that, their expressions softened slightly.
"That jaw won't ever heal?"
[Cut the chatter. Can you introduce me or not?]
The guys looked at each other and then nodded.
"There might be such a drug... We'll tell you. But you must never reveal that person's information to anyone."
Bradley spoke while breaking his pencil.
"I unnerstand."
His friends looked at each other for a moment and then spoke.
"Uh... You meant you understand, right?"
***
Two weeks.
That was the time it took for Caesar to fully grasp all the sensations of Besum.
'I can't go on any further.'
He had been sifting through Besum's memories for more than 15 hours a day, excluding time for eating and sleeping.
Perhaps because of this, Caesar now felt awkward in his own body.
He felt that if he delved any deeper, some problem would arise.
Instead of going to the hero's cemetery, Caesar reported to work in front of Pesson's blacksmith.
"I'd like to borrow the front yard for about a week."
"Don't tell me you've already completed the axe technique?"
"Not quite. But I think I've grasped the fundamentals."
Pesson found Caesar's words hard to believe.
Whether it's body strengthening techniques or swordsmanship, creating any technique is impossible unless you're a genius.
Even existing sword techniques have developed over several generations, so how could he have grasped the essence of a technique in just 3-4 weeks?
"I'll let you know when it's roughly complete."
"...I see."
Caesar began to seriously train in the 'Path of the Wind'.
If one were to categorize the axe techniques included in the Path of the Wind, there are a total of 6.
There are 2 techniques used with Gentle Wind, and 2 techniques used with Sweeping Wind.
And there was 1 aura operation technique and 1 movement technique that were always used when using the above techniques.
Of course, Besum, being a barbarian, didn't particularly categorize the techniques, but Caesar, who had learned Besum's techniques from various angles, judged that learning them in 6 categories would allow him to master the Path of the Wind faster and more clearly.
First, Caesar used the 'Wind Reading', the first form of the Path of the Wind, which he had practiced tirelessly for two weeks.
Then, the whispers of the wind flowing around Caesar gently entered his ears.
Wheeee.
The winds drifting around Caesar vary in strength and direction.
They even collide, break, merge, and circulate with each other every minute and second.
In this disorderly flow, Caesar focused on 'hearing' to find patterns.
The key to all techniques lies in finding regularity within vagueness.
If you can grasp the pattern, you can predict even the great laws of nature, and predict what a single stream of wind will meet and what phenomenon it will cause.
Like all techniques, it starts from that prediction.
'I don't need to understand everything.'
There's no need to understand all the wind flows drifting around Caesar.
It's enough if he can just catch one stream of wind that he can use.
'Found it.'
A faint, fresh-scented wind brushing Caesar's right cheek.
Caesar threw his axe towards that wind.
Whoosh-!
Caesar's axe glided along the wind like a mountain bird.
The axe, along with the wind, brushed past the sparse trees here and there like mountain birds and...
Thwack!
Cut off the head of a snake crawling up a tree.
Success.
Caesar headed towards the tree to retrieve his axe.
Above where the axe was embedded, a bird's nest was visible.
It seems the snake was trying to eat the bird eggs.
Caesar pulled out the axe and picked up the headless snake.
'Snake roast for lunch today.'
Caesar headed back to Pesson's front yard to practice with the axe again.
***
Pesson had a habit of sitting on the long bench in the front yard and smoking a cigarette when he was tired.
In the past, he would smoke while absentmindedly watching mountain birds fly around, but now axes were flying around instead of mountain birds.
'...He's certainly a strange one.'
Caesar's axe flew around in angles and directions that Pesson couldn't understand at all.
It would fly around the sparse forest of trees, sometimes getting stuck in a tree, and sometimes returning to Caesar's arms like a boomerang.
There were many rumors that he had received Besum's blessing.
Just as he was beginning to think that those rumors might not be entirely false...
The back of one guy overlapped with Caesar's.
-Make an axe! An axe!
The barbarian who came to Pesson's blacksmith out of the blue and demanded an axe.
That rude guy who introduced himself as Barre unceremoniously put down a bundle of weapons covered in congealed blood and heavily rusted in front of Pesson.
-Make the strongest axe in the world with this!
Pesson naturally refused.
According to Pesson's philosophy that if you're going to make a weapon, you should make the best weapon, it was right to refuse Barre's proposal.
Since the guy didn't have a penny to his name, even if he made the weapon, he wouldn't be able to pay for it.
-Hurry up and make it! Blacksmith!
I won't move a single step until you make it!
But the guy seemed to be a stubborn one who absolutely kept his word.
Barre really pitched a shabby tent in front of Pesson's house and kept throwing tantrums asking him to make it, repeating eating and sleeping.
-Alright, you rascal! You tiresome fellow!
Pesson finally threw the weapons the guy had brought into the furnace.
The steel the guy had been using was all rusty and poorly maintained, making it easy to break.
So it was necessary to remove as many impurities as possible and collect only the steel containing magic separately.
The weight of the magic steel extracted from those weapons was 5kg.
If he combined it with the steel lying around in Pesson’s house, he could make a weapon that Barre could use adequately.
'Just make it carelessly?'
It was clear that even if he made an expensive weapon for the guy, he wouldn't be able to pay for it anyway.
Honestly, the fact that Pesson, the best blacksmith in Shalibi, was making a weapon for him was already more than the guy deserved.
So, make it carelessly.
Just as a moment of temptation was passing by, Pesson heard the sound of the guy training.
Pesson opened the window and watched the guy train.
-Heeyah! Heeyah!
The guy's axe technique was crude but simple.
It wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow either.
He preferred to strike vertically rather than horizontally.
Above all, his strength was no joke.
Pesson stared blankly at the steel ingot.
'This won't last even a day.'
As if possessed, Pesson wrote down cold iron, magic gold, giant stone, and lastly, terra on the order form.
By the time he felt regret, Pesson was holding a hammer, and the regret was easily forgotten in the cheers of the steel flowing through the hammer.
That's how Barre's axe was born.
A bit shorter than a halberd, a bit longer than an axe.
A solid weapon made solely to withstand Barre's strength.
It was a more destructive weapon than any Pesson had ever made.
-Whose were all these weapons you handed to me?
-They belonged to my dead family and close friends.
-...I see.
Although Pesson never intended it, the axe was angry.
Despite using 110kg of terra, giant stone, and cold iron, which were incomparably more expensive than magic steel, it was corrupted by the outcry of the blood-soaked magic steel that weighed only 5kg.
If he handed this to Barre, it was obvious that the guy would be consumed by the madness and anger of the axe.
-It's an incredibly well-made axe. What's the name of this axe, old man?
Name?
Pesson hurriedly snatched the axe.
-It's not finished yet.
-Oh? It looks fine to me.
-I said it's not done yet, stop talking! Go train more.
Pesson couldn't give this axe to that guy.
But adding or subtracting anything here would go against Pesson's blacksmith philosophy.
This weapon was already a completed weapon.
Pesson put the axe on the anvil and picked up a chisel.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
So he engraves with a wish.
That the guy won't be consumed by the madness of revenge sleeping in this axe.
Clang-!
Clang-!
Clang-!
That on the day Barre finishes his revenge, he can shake off everything and regain true freedom.
Clang-!
Clang-!
Clang-!
Pesson prayed and prayed as he engraved a name on the axe blade.
The name he engraved over three days and nights was.
Wilderness.
It was the place Barre would eventually have to return to and the home he would have to live in from now on.
"Hey, old man."
Pesson stared blankly at Caesar sitting next to him.
Caesar held out the axe to Pesson.
"You saw my techniques well, right?"
"...Is it complete?"
"I've got the rough framework. Can you make it now?"
Pesson looked at the axe Caesar was holding out.
The axe handle and blade were full of new traces he hadn't seen before.
"Make me an axe."